In-line heat exchanger assembly and method of using

ABSTRACT

An heat exchanger assembly and a method of use thereof adapted for transferring heat to or from a fluid to a surrounding environment within an apparatus, such as motor vehicle engines, as it enters and leaves a fluid-handling device. The heat exchanger assembly includes first and second manifolds, multiple cooling tubes and a return tube. The first manifold has inlet holes therein and the second manifold has outlet holes therein. The multiple cooling tubes fluidically interconnect the first and second manifolds and the inlet and outlet holes thereof. The return tube passes through the first and second manifolds to fluidically interconnect opposite ends of the heat exchanger assembly. The return tube has a first end adapted to mount the heat exchanger assembly to the apparatus and an oppositely-disposed second end that protrudes from the second manifold and is adapted to secure the fluid-handling device thereto.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/527,806, filed Aug. 26, 2011, the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to heat transfer apparatuses.More particularly, this invention relates to an heat exchanger assemblyadapted for installation on an apparatus, such as motor vehicle engines,to cool oil as it enters and leaves an fluid-handling device.

Heat exchangers are routinely employed within the automotive industry,such as in the form of radiators for cooling engine coolant, oilcoolers, charge air coolers, condensers and evaporators for airconditioning systems, and heaters. In order to efficiently maximize theamount of surface area available for transferring heat between theenvironment and a fluid flowing through the heat exchanger, heatexchanger designs are typically of a tube-and-fin type in which numerouscooling tubes thermally communicate with high surface area cooling fins.The cooling fins enhance the ability of the heat exchanger to transferheat from the fluid to the environment, or vice versa.

Oil coolers for automotive vehicle engine systems typically include apair of headers and a core having a plurality of cooling tubes disposedbetween the two headers. A heated oil from a transmission flows throughthe cooling tubes and air flowing through a grill of the vehicle flowsacross the cooling tubes in order to remove heat from the oil within thecooling tubes. The oil enters and exits the oil cooler through theheaders. The headers are typically connected to the engine and the oilfilter by hoses and connectors, such as clamps.

Oil coolers of the type described above may be difficult to install.Typically, a plurality of metal brackets are welded to a vehicle frameand the oil cooler is attached thereto by threaded fasteners.Disadvantageously, welding requires additional processing steps duringvehicle assembly. Further, conventional mounting arrangements typicallyrequire multiple threaded fasteners to assure a secure mount. In manyinstances, the threaded fasteners may work lose which may result invibration. In addition, the fasteners can be over-tightened and mayresult in damage to the oil cooler.

Once the oil cooler is mounted, the hoses must be run to the headers ofthe oil cooler. This requires additional installation steps and cluttersthe area around the engine. Because oil pressure drops within a hose asthe length of the hose increases, the oil cooler may have a negativeimpact on the performance of the vehicle depending on the location ofthe mounted oil cooler.

In view of the above, it can be appreciated that there is a need for animproved heat exchanger assembly for cooling oil within an engine of amotor vehicle, as well as other types of fluid-containing apparatuses.It would be particularly advantageous if such heat exchanger assemblywere capable of installation without mounting fixtures to secure theheat exchanger or hoses to transfer the oil between the heat exchangerand components of the engine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cooler assembly and a method of usethereof adapted for cooling oil within an apparatus, including but notlimited to motor vehicle engines.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a heat exchanger assemblyincludes first and second manifolds, multiple cooling tubes and a returntube. The first manifold has inlet holes therein and the second manifoldhas outlet holes therein. The multiple cooling tubes fluidicallyinterconnect the first and second manifolds and the inlet and outletholes thereof. The return tube passes through the first and secondmanifolds to fluidically interconnect opposite ends of the heatexchanger assembly. The return tube has a first end adapted to mount theheat exchanger assembly to an apparatus and an oppositely-disposedsecond end that protrudes from the second manifold and is adapted tomount a fluid-handling device thereto.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a method is provided fortransferring heat to or from a fluid to a surrounding environment usinga exchanger assembly. The heat exchanger assembly includes first andsecond manifolds, multiple cooling tubes and a return tube. The firstmanifold has inlet holes therein and the second manifold has outletholes therein. The multiple cooling tubes fluidically interconnect thefirst and second manifolds and the inlet and outlet holes thereof. Thereturn tube passes through the first and second manifolds to fluidicallyinterconnect opposite ends of the heat exchanger assembly. The returntube has a first end adapted to mount the heat exchanger assembly to anapparatus and an oppositely-disposed second end that protrudes from thesecond manifold and is adapted to mount a fluid-handling device thereto.The method includes mounting the first end of the return tube of theheat exchanger assembly to the apparatus, mounting at least a firstfluid-handling device to the second end of the return tube of the heatexchanger, and then operating the apparatus causing the fluid to flowfrom the apparatus, through the inlet holes and the cooling tubes of theheat exchanger assembly where the fluid is cooled therein, through theoutlet holes into the fluid-handling device, through the return tube andback into the apparatus.

A technical effect of the invention is the ability to cool oil within anapparatus, such as motor vehicle engines, without the need forcomplicated mounting fixtures or additional hoses by utilizing a compactoil cooler that can be mounted in-line.

Other aspects and advantages of this invention will be betterappreciated from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view representing an in-line heat exchangerassembly comprising multiple finned cooling tubes between a pair ofheaders in accordance with an aspect of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the heat exchanger assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view representing the heat exchangerassembly of FIG. 2 taken along section line A-A, but with the coolingfins omitted to promote the clarity of the view.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to the view shown in FIG. 3,but with the cooling fins included.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view representing the heat exchangerassembly of FIG. 4 taken along section line B-B.

FIG. 6 is an isolated side view representing one of the cooling tubes ofFIG. 1 and multiple cooling fins mounted thereon in accordance with anaspect of this invention.

FIG. 7 is a top view representing one cooling fin of the multiplecooling fins of FIG. 6 in accordance with an aspect of this invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view representing the heat exchanger assembly inposition between an oil filter and a wall of an apparatus in accordancewith an aspect of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view representing the heat exchanger assembly of FIGS.1 through 8 adapted for use with a coolant in accordance with an aspectof this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 through 9 represent nonlimiting examples of a heat exchanger 10according to embodiments of the present invention. The heat exchanger 10is adapted to be mounted on an engine or other apparatus through which afluid flows and adapted to mount and fluidically connect afluid-handling device to the apparatus. Such apparatuses include, butare not limited to, engines for automobiles, recreational vehicles,motorcycles, boats, lawn mowers, etc., compressors, or hydraulic units,as well as various types of assemblies in which cooling or heating of afluid within the assembly is desired. An example of the fluid-handlingdevice is an oil filter. The heat exchanger 10 is adapted to transferheat to or from the fluid from the environment. In the case of anautomobile engine and oil filter, the heat exchanger 10 is configured toallow oil cooling capabilities within an engine without reliance onadditional hoses or mounting fixtures, such as those required by typesof oil coolers known in the art.

To facilitate the description of the heat exchanger 10 provided below,the terms “top,” “bottom,” “side,” “upper,” “lower,” “above,” “below,”“right,” “left,” etc., will be used in reference to the perspective ofthe orientation shown in FIGS. 1 through 9, and therefore are relativeterms and should not be otherwise interpreted as limiting the scope ofthe invention.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective and side views representing the heatexchanger 10, respectively. FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sections of the heatexchanger 10 taken along section line A-A of FIG. 2, showing the heatexchanger 10 without and with cooling fins 24, respectively. As labeledin FIGS. 1 through 4, the heat exchanger 10 is an assembly comprising afilter flange 12, top cooler manifold 14, bottom cooler manifold 16, amounting flange 18, a central return tube 20, cooling tubes 22surrounding the return tube 20, cooling fins 24 on the cooling tubes 22,and a gasket 26 (only shown in FIG. 3) for sealing the mounting flange18 against a mounting surface, such as an engine block. FIG. 5 is across-section of the heat exchanger 10 taken along section line B-B ofFIG. 4, and represents the heat exchanger 10 as having six cooling tubes22 each with multiple cooling fins 24 mounted thereon. FIG. 6 representsone of the cooling tubes 22 with cooling fins 24 mounted thereon. FIG. 7is a top view representing one of the cooling fins 24 from FIG. 6. Asrepresented in FIGS. 6 and 7, the cooling fins 24 may have a corrugatedcross-sectional shape and a continuous circular-shaped outer perimeter.Other fin shapes are also within the scope of this invention.Furthermore, it is foreseeable that the heat exchanger 10 can beconfigured to operate without the use of cooling fins 24, to have anynumber of cooling fins 24, to have any number of cooling tubes 22, andto have cooling tubes 22 that are formed to have shapes other thanstraight tubes having round cross-sections.

As evident from FIG. 3, oil is able to enter the bottom cooler manifold16 through inlet holes 28 in the gasket 26 and mounting flange 18, passthrough the cooling tubes 22 before entering the top cooler manifold 14,and then exit the heat exchanger 10 through outlet holes 42 in thefilter flange 12. Oil exiting the heat exchanger 10 in this manner maysubsequently flow through, for example, an oil filter 30, as representedin FIG. 8. After flowing through a filtering media of the filter 30, theoil is returned to an engine 32 (a wall portion of which is shown)through the return tube 20. For use in combination with the oil filter30, the return tube 20 can be adapted to serve as a fastener for theheat exchanger 10. In preferred embodiments of the invention, anexterior of one end of the tube 20 is preferably threaded to threadablyaccept the oil filter 30, and an interior of an opposite end of thereturn tube 20 is preferably threaded to accept a mounting stud 34 of atype that is conventionally provided on the engine 32 to mount thefilter 30 in the absence of the heat exchanger 10.

As represented in FIG. 3, the cooling tubes 22 can have dimples 36 orother surface features to create turbulence within oil flowing throughthe cooling tubes 22. Heat transfer from the oil within the coolingtubes 22 to the surrounding environment is promoted by the cooling fins24, which are stacked onto each tube 22 to define an axial fin stack.The cooling fins 24 can be secured to the cooling tubes 22 bydiametrically expanding the cooling tubes 22 by such hydraulic expansionmethods or other suitable means. The cooling tubes 22 and cooling fins24 can then be assembled with the manifolds 14 and 16 by inserting endsof the cooling tubes 22 into appropriately sized holes formed in themanifolds 14 and 16. Similarly, the return tube 20 is inserted throughthe manifolds 14 and 16, after which the filter flange 12 and mountingflange 18 can be assembled to the return tube 20 and secured to themanifolds 14 and 16 to close and seal the manifolds 14 and 16. Knownbrazing and soldering techniques can be employed to join components ofthe heat exchanger 10. The gasket 26 can then be secured to the mountingflange 18 to result in the construction shown in FIGS. 1 through 8.

An alternative to the embodiment described above is to enclose thecooling tubes 22 and cooling fins 24 between the manifolds 14 and 16,and then flow a coolant, for example, a liquid such as water orantifreeze, through a resulting cavity. FIG. 9 is a side viewrepresenting the heat exchanger 10 further comprising a jacket 38enclosing the cooling tubes 22 and cooling fins 24. The heat exchanger10 may include at least a fitting 40 or other similar features thatserve as one or more inlets and outlets through which the coolant flowsinto and out of a cavity (not shown) defined by the jacket 38 betweenthe manifolds 14 and 16. Such embodiment may be preferable inapplications requiring high heat transfer rates. Modifications to theheat exchanger 10 may be necessary or preferable when coolant isutilized. For example, higher heat transfer rates may allow the removalof the cooling fins 24 or fluid dynamics of the coolant may require thecooling fins 24 to be formed with a different shape.

To install the heat exchanger 10 in-line with the oil filter on theengine 32, the oil filter 30, if present, is removed from the mountingstud 34 of the engine 32. The heat exchanger 10 is then mounted directlyto the mounting stud 34, and thereafter the oil filter 30 is mounted tothe heat exchanger 10 so that the cooler 10 is between the engine 32 andthe oil filter 30. As previously discussed, one end of the return tube20 is preferably adapted to threadably mount the heat exchanger 10 tothe engine 32 and an oppositely-disposed second end that protrudes fromthe second manifold 16 is adapted to threadably secure the oil filter 30thereto.

A single heat exchanger 10 can be used, or additional heat transfercapacity can be achieved by simply mounting multiple heat exchangers 10to each other in series. In this situation, the first end of the returntube 20 of the heat exchanger 10 is adapted to threadably mount to thesecond end of the return tube 20 of an additional heat exchanger 10.Therefore, to install multiple heat exchangers 10, the first end of thereturn tube 20 of the heat exchanger 10 is mounted to the engine 32.Next, one or more additional heat exchangers 10 are installed bysecuring the first end of the additional heat exchangers 10 to thesecond end of previously installed heat exchangers 10. Once all heatexchangers 10 have been installed, the oil filter 30 is secured to thesecond end of the heat exchanger 10 that was last to be installed. Uponoperation of the engine 32, oil flows through the inlet holes 28,cooling tubes 22 and outlet holes 42 of each heat exchanger 10 into theoil filter 30 in the same fashion as if only a single heat exchanger waspresent. After flowing through the filtering media of the filter 30, theoil is returned to the engine 32 through the return tubes 20 of all theoil assemblies 10.

Axial lengths of the cooling tubes 22 can be tailored to achieve desiredattributes of the heat exchanger 10 for a particular application. Forexample, the length of the cooling tubes 22 may be extended to improveheat transfer capability. Conversely, the cooling tubes 22 can beshortened to offer minimal oil pressure drop within the heat exchanger10.

The heat exchanger 10 represented in FIGS. 1 through 9 offers variousadvantages. The heat exchanger 10 reduces the temperature of engine oilas it passes to and from the oil filter 30. Heat transfer is promotedthrough the use of multiple cooling tubes 22 and their cooling fins 24.Installation and removal of the heat exchanger 10 are as uncomplicatedas changing the oil filter 30, and the heat exchanger 10 is preferablyadapted to be mounted to an existing mounting surface of the engine 32.

While the invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments,it is apparent that other forms could be adopted by one skilled in theart. For example, the physical configuration of the heat exchanger 10could differ from that shown, and materials and processes other thanthose noted could be used. Therefore, the scope of the invention is tobe limited only by the following claims.

1. A heat exchanger assembly comprising: first and second manifolds, thefirst manifold having inlet holes therein and the second manifold havingoutlet holes therein; multiple cooling tubes fluidically interconnectingthe first and second manifolds and the inlet and outlet holes thereof;and a return tube passing through the first and second manifolds tofluidically interconnect opposite ends of the heat exchanger assembly,the return tube having a first end adapted to mount the heat exchangerassembly to an apparatus, the return tube having an oppositely-disposedsecond end that protrudes from the second manifold and is adapted tosecure a fluid-handling device thereto.
 2. The heat exchanger assemblyof claim 1, further comprising cooling fins (24) mounted to exteriors ofthe cooling tubes.
 3. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 2, whereinthe cooling fins have a corrugated cross-sectional shape and acontinuous circular-shaped outer perimeter.
 4. The heat exchangerassembly of claim 2, wherein the cooling fins are secured to the coolingtubes by diametrically expanding the cooling tubes.
 5. The heatexchanger assembly of claim 2, wherein each of the cooling tubescomprises at least one cooling fin mounted thereon.
 6. The heatexchanger assembly of claim 1, wherein the cooling tubes are enclosedbetween the first and second manifolds to yield a cavity for a coolantto flow therein.
 7. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 2, wherein thecooling tubes and cooling fins are enclosed between the first and secondmanifolds to yield a cavity for a coolant to flow therein.
 8. The heatexchanger assembly of claim 1, wherein the fluid-handling device is anoil filter.
 9. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1, wherein thefluid-handling device is an additional heat exchanger assembly.
 10. Theheat exchanger assembly of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is an engineof a motor vehicle.
 11. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1, whereinthe apparatus is a compressor.
 12. The heat exchanger assembly of claim1, wherein the apparatus is a hydraulic unit.
 13. A method oftransferring heat to or from a fluid to a surrounding environment usingthe heat exchanger assembly of claim 1, the method comprising: mountingthe first end of the return tube of the heat exchanger assembly to theapparatus; mounting at least a first fluid-handling device of theapparatus to the second end of the return tube of the heat exchanger;and then operating the apparatus causing the fluid to flow from theapparatus, through the inlet holes and the cooling tubes of the heatexchanger assembly where the fluid is cooled therein, through the outletholes into the fluid-handling device, through the return tube and backinto the apparatus.
 14. The method according to claim 13, furthercomprising removing the fluid-handling device from the apparatus priorto mounting the first end of the return tube of the heat exchangerassembly to the apparatus.
 15. The method according to claim 13, furthercomprising cooling the heat exchanger assembly with a coolant.
 16. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein the first fluid-handling device isan additional heat exchanger assembly, the method further comprisingmounting a second fluid-handling device to the second end of the returntube of the additional heat exchanger assembly prior to operating theapparatus.
 17. A method of transferring heat to or from a fluid to asurrounding environment using a exchanger assembly comprising first andsecond manifolds, the first manifold having inlet holes therein and thesecond manifold having outlet holes therein, multiple cooling tubesfluidically interconnecting the first and second manifolds and the inletand outlet holes thereof, and a return tube passing through the firstand second manifolds to fluidically interconnect opposite ends of theheat exchanger assembly, the return tube having a first end adapted tomount the heat exchanger assembly to an apparatus, the return tubehaving an oppositely-disposed second end that protrudes from the secondmanifold and is adapted to secure a fluid-handling device thereto, themethod comprising: mounting the first end of the return tube of the heatexchanger assembly to the apparatus; mounting at least a firstfluid-handling device to the second end of the return tube of the heatexchanger; and then operating the apparatus causing the fluid to flowfrom the apparatus, through the inlet holes and the cooling tubes of theheat exchanger assembly where the fluid is cooled therein, through theoutlet holes into the fluid-handling device, through the return tube andback into the apparatus.
 18. The method according to claim 17, furthercomprising removing the fluid-handling device from the apparatus priorto mounting the first end of the return tube of the first heat exchangerassembly to the apparatus.
 19. The method according to claim 17, furthercomprising cooling the heat exchanger assembly with a coolant.
 20. Themethod according to claim 17, wherein the fluid-handling device is anoil filter.
 21. The method according to claim 17, wherein the apparatusis an engine of a motor vehicle.
 22. The method according to claim 17,wherein the apparatus is a compressor.
 23. The method according to claim17, wherein the apparatus is a hydraulic unit.
 24. The method accordingto claim 17, wherein the first fluid-handling device is an additionalheat exchanger assembly, the method further comprising mounting a secondfluid-handling device to the second end of the return tube of theadditional heat exchanger assembly prior to operating the apparatus. 25.The method according to claim 24, wherein the second fluid-handlingdevice is an oil filter.